Air-King Date

par Invité Lun 14 Mar - 1:21

On dit la version assez rare, la plupart des Air-King étant sans date.

La Air-King étant une Oyster Perpetual ou Perpetual Date de 34 mm, mais alors pourquoi lui donner ce nom alors que rien ne la diffère par ailleurs ? Pour faire comme la Datejust de 36 mm ? mais il existe pourtant l'Oyster Perpetual Date de 34 mm au catalogue strictement identique, alors pourquoi ???

Extrait d'un catalogue Rolex de 1971 du Blog de Stefano Mazzariol

Air-King Date Img847

Voilà ce que j'ai trouvé en anglais sur l'origine du mot Air-King :

Crédit http://www.timeandgems.com/A-Little-Rolex-Air-King-History_b_17.html
Rolex was a popular watch among pilots in England in the 1930s and was the watch among British RAF pilots, the heroic “Few” that Churchill immortalized during the Battle of Britain in 1940. They appreciated the tough, accurate watches with the burgeoning Rolex reputation for durability and water resistance. After World War II, the founder of Rolex, Hans Wilsdorf, recalled the favor Rolex had been shown by the British pilots. According to eminent Rolex historian James Dowling, it was then that Wilsdorf introduced the first Rolex watches with high-flying names: names like the Air Tiger, Air Lion, Air Giant and the Air King. These were all initially hand-wound watches featuring the classic 10.5 ligne hunter movement. In later years after the other models were dropped from the line, the Air King was upgraded to an Oyster Perpetual or automatic movement.

Lionel